April 2012 – Page 2 – Booktalking #kidlit

Nonfiction Monday

Picture Book of the Day

Bambino and Mr. Twain
by Priscilla Maltbie (Author) and Daniel Miyares (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Grieving the death of his wife, America’s favorite author and humorist shuts himself up in his Fifth Avenue house and abandons his writing. Only his daughter’s cantankerous cat, Bambino, seems to understand Samuel Clemens and his moods. When the feisty cat disappears, Sam is determined to find him

Snippet: “Everyone wants to meet witty Mark Twain,” the man said. “But tell me, Bambino, would they want to meet sad, old Samuel Clemens?”
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Chapter Book of the Day

The Gods and Goddesses of Greek Mythology
by Don Nardo (Author)
64 pages

Booktalk: Discover the exploits of all-powerful Zeus, leader of the Olympians, the mightiest of all the gods. Relive the excitement of the Titanomachy, the colossal War of the Titans. See what motivated the gods and goddesses, and encounter the ultimate winners and losers in Greek mythology’s incredible battles.

Snippet: The ancient Greeks who lived between about 800 BC and 300 BC believed that the gods they worshipped had interacted with select humans during a period of the distant past. They called it the Age of Heroes.
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Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up host is The Nonfiction Detectives

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Nonfiction Book Blast 2012

Susan Stockdale booktalks Bring On the Birds

on the Nonfiction Book Blast blog today…

Save the date! June 23, 2012 Nonfiction Book Blast 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

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STEM Haiku

In honor of National Poetry Month, we invite you to share an original STEM haiku.

(STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Share your original STEM haiku at the new STEM Friday blog.

byte-sized mail
emails fly across
cyberspace, ones and zeroes
become written words
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

Poetry Friday Reads

STEM Haiku

Kidlitosphere
Cyberspace is a
lovely place to meet with friends
and talk about books!
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Poetry Friday

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is here!

Add your post to the round-up by clicking on the link below. Please write the title of your poem or book (in parentheses) after your name so Mr. Linky makes a hotlink for it. I’ll post the links on this page as the day goes on. Thanks!

Here’s what the kidlitosphere is reading and writing this week…

1.Kate Coombs’ Mud at 30 Poets/30 Days
2. Gathering Books (A Love Poem from Marguerite Burnat- Provins)
3. Children’s Poem “The Daffodil Dance” by Deborah Diesen
4. No Water River “Hydrophobiac” by Laura Purdie Salas
5. Julie Larios (Seamus Heaney’s Birthday!)
6. Tabatha (Progressive Poem and Fictional Faves)
7.Alice@ Supratentorial (Mathematickles)
8. Mary Lee (CAKE- KU–a cake pop haiku)
9. Liz Steinglass (Chippy Chap)
10. Tara@ ATeaching Life
11. Robyn Hood Black’s “Haiku Mind” at Author Amok
12.Laura Salas (crab haiku)
13. Laura Salas (15 Words or Less poems)
14. Robyn Hood Black (- Laura Purdie Salas and BOOKSPEAK)
15. Charlotte’s Library (A Little Bitty Man)
16. Shannon @ Mountaineer Country
17. Hope Is the Word (Laura Ingalls Wilder fairy poems)
18. Linda (an inspirational poem)
19. jama (Adele Kenny’s “Chosen Ghosts”)
20. A mathematical septina and an original sestina at Write. Sketch. Repeat.
21. Diane Mayr (“Sometimes in Spring”)
22. Kids of the Homefront Army (” The Train”)
23. Kurious Kitty (Renga)
24. KK’s Kwotes (Robert Frost)
25. Linda Baie (original poem)
26. Ruth (original poem)
27. Heidi Mordhorst (Ken Slesarik’s Poetry Rocks! e-book)
28. Teaching Authors guest post by Helen Frost featuring her poem ” Friend”
29. Dori Reads (Don’t Be Flip)
30. Charles Ghigna (” Over Herd”)
31. violet (“V is for…”)
32. Sara Lewis Holmes (Book with Wings)
33. Amy LV (LBH Birthday Party!)
34. Karen Edmisten (John Updike)
35. Reader KidZ (Kate Coombs Author- In- Residence)
36. Sylvia Vardell (Hoyte & Roemer Interview)
37. Wild Rose Reader (MOLE: An Original Animal Mask Poem)
38. Jone (Renee LaTulipe poem)
39. Jone (zombie poems)
40. Jeannine Atkins (The Poetry Teacher’s Book of Lists by Syliva Vardell)
41. Books 4 Learning (Science Verse)
42. david e (twitku roundup wk 2)
43. Lynn Plourde (Reading and Writing Ear Candy)
44. Thinking in Rhyme (Spot the Superstitions)
45.Kristie Hamilton (The Adventures of Babadooga: Back to Big)
46. On Point (Twenty- Seven Years)
47. readertotz (Water Sings Blue)
48. Jennie from Biblio File (Under the Mesquite)
49. Carlie from Twinkling Along (an original spring poem)
50. Betsy (Morning Greeting)
51. Janet (Lemonade and other poems squeezed from a single word)
52. Mainely Write (L is for Leaf)
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Picture Book of the Day

T is for Titanic: A Titanic Alphabet
by Debbie & Michael Shoulders (Authors) and Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen (Illustrator)

Booktalk: At 11:40 pm on April 14, 1912, the fate of the world’s most famous ship was sealed when the lookout on the luxury liner, RMS Titanic, spotted an iceberg in the ship’s path in the North Atlantic. By 2 am, the ship had started its slide into the frigid waters, carrying close to 1,500 people to a watery grave.

Snippet: A is for the Anatomy of the Titanic

The RMS Titanic
included ten decks in all.
it was the world’s largest
moving object at 175 feet tall!

BONUS! Download the teacher’s guide!
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Chapter Book of the Day

A Funeral in the Bathroom: and Other School Bathroom Poems
by Kalli Dakos (Author) and Mark Beech (Illustrator)
48 pages

Booktalk: The school bathrooom is a place where kids meet their friends, go to think when a pet has died, or just to take a break from it all.

Snippet:
Germs
It was about germs…that TV show.
The bathroom has a zillion, you know.
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STEM Friday

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

come share your link or a STEM haiku of your own!

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Nonfiction Monday on April 16, 2012

Nonfiction Monday is coming!

The Nonfiction Monday Round-up on April 16, 2012

is at The Nonfiction Detectives.

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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

2012 Poetry Month Progressive Poem

2012 Poetry Month Progressive Poem

Day 12 of the 2012 Poetry Month Progressive Poem is here at Booktalking. Poets in the kidlitosphere are adding one line a day. Contributing so far are poets…

1 Irene at Live Your Poem
2 Doraine at Dori Reads
3 Jeannine at View from a Window Seat
4 Robyn at Read, Write, Howl
5 Susan at Susan Taylor Brown
6 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
7 Penny at A Penny and her Jots
8 Jone at Deo Writer
9 Gina at Swagger Writer’s
10 Julie at The Drift Record
11 Kate at Book Aunt

And now it’s my turn to add line #12…

If you are reading this
you must be hungry
Kick off your silver slippers
Come sit with us a spell

A hanky, here, now dry your tears
And fill your glass with wine
Now, pour. The parchment has secrets
Smells of a Morrocan market spill out.

You have come to the right place, just breathe in.
Honey, mint, cinnamon, sorrow. Now, breathe out
last week’s dreams. Take a wish from the jar.
Inside, deep inside, is the answer…

Next up are:

13 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
14 Diane at Random Noodling
15 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town
16 Natalie at Wading Through Words
17 Tara at A Teaching Life
18 Amy at The Poem Farm
19 Lori at Habitual Rhymer
20 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe
21 Myra at Gathering Books
22 Pat at Writer on a Horse
23 Miranda at Miranda Paul Books
24 Linda at TeacherDance
25 Greg at Gotta Book
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Linda at Write Time
28 Caroline at Caroline by Line
29 Sheri at Sheri Doyle
30 Irene at Live Your Poem

So it ends where it began. What a great idea, Irene! I’m so glad I was able to participate.
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Picture Book of the Day

Hush Little Turtle
By Maranke Rinck (Author) and Martijn Van Der Linden (Illustrator)

Booktalk: In this board book, Turtle has a problem. He can’t go to sleep! His friends try to help him out…

Snippet:
“Ahem, I have an idea,” announces Bird.
And he picks up a stick.

TURN THE PAGE

“Hush little Turtle,” the others sing.
Very soft. And very slow.
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Comic of the Week

Patrick in A Teddy Bear’s Picnic and Other Stories
by Geoffrey Hayes (Author, llustrator)
32 pages

Booktalk: Patrick is a puddle-jumping teddy bear whose biggest challenge is avoiding naptime…until he has to contend with Big Bear.

Snippet:
PATRICK: OOOF!

PATRICK: Come back!

PATRICK: BIG BEAR!

PATRICK: May I have my balloon…please!
BIG BEAR: NO!

BIG BEAR: I want to hear it go…

SFX: POP!
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STEM Haiku

Blue Screen of Death
Blue makes you calm, so
they say, but not during a
computer crash. NO!
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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STEM Friday is coming!

STEM Friday is coming! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

If you blog about science or math books tomorrow,

come share your link or a STEM haiku of your own!

_____________________________________________________________________

Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

Great Books

Picture Book of the Day

Vote for Me!
by Ben Clanton (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: It’s election time again. The donkey wants your vote. So does the elephant. And each will do just about anything to win your support…

Snippet:
DONKEY:
Hey, you!
Yes, YOU with the great hair and that dazzling smile.
Listen, you should–

ELEPHANT:
DON’T LISTEN TO THAT DONKEY!
You’re too smart for that.
You’ll want to…

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfZikbt7uiY]
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Chapter Book of the Day

Fracture
by Megan Miranda (Author)
272 pages

Booktalk: Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine — despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she’s far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can’t control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Snippet:
The first time I died, I didn’t see God.
No light at the end of the tunnel. No haloed angels. No dead grandparents.
To be fair, I probably wasn’t a shoo-in for Heaven. But honestly, I kind of assumed I’d make the cut.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd5rUSMoYdI]
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5 More Great Earth Day Books

Biscuit’s Earth Day Celebration
by Alyssa Satin Capucilli (Author)
Biscuit the little yellow puppy goes to school for Earth Day. Easy reader.

Earth Day (On My Own Holidays)
by Linda Lowery (Author) and Mary Bergherr (Illustrator)
Learn about how Earth Day started. Easy Reader.

Earth Day
by Margaret McNamara (Author) and Mike Gordon (Illustrator)Lloyd G. Douglas (Author)
What can Emma do for Earth Day? Level 1 easy reader.

Let’s Get Ready for Earth Day
by Lloyd G. Douglas (Author)
Dan and his class get ready for Earth Day. Easy reader.

Sid the Science Kid: Earth Day Fun
by Jennifer Frantz (Author)
Sid is going to plant a tree for Earth Day, but first, he wants to know…what is dirt? Level 1 easy reader.
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STEM Haiku

Share your own haiku about a STEM topic during National Poetry Month.

(STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Go Away, Bugs!
Oh bugs, bugs, bugs, who
said you could come in? This is
my house, not yours. Scram!
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Literary Links

How To Search Google By Reading Level (via @eBookNewser)
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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

STEM Haiku

STEM Haiku

Share your own haiku about a STEM topic during National Poetry Month.

(STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Sixty Seconds
A minute is a
minute, so why are some days
short and others long?
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Picture Book of the Day

Can I Bring Woolly to the Library, Ms. Reeder?
by Lois Grambling (Author) Judy Love (Illustrator)

Booktalk: A young boy asks his librarian if he can bring his friend Woolly, a mammoth, to the library. His humorous pleas are a fun way to teach children how to use a library.

Snippet:
Can I bring Woolly to the library, Ms. Reeder?
Can I?
PLEASE?!
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Chapter Book of the Day

BZRK
by Michael Grant (Author)
400 pages

Booktalk: Set in the near future, BZRK is the story of a war for control of the human mind. Charles and Benjamin Armstrong, conjoined twins and owners of the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, have a goal: to turn the world into their vision of utopia. No wars, no conflict, no hunger. And no free will. Opposing them is a guerrilla group of teens, code name BZRK, who are fighting to protect the right to be messed up, to be human. This is no ordinary war, though. Weapons are deployed on the nano-level. The battleground is the human brain. And there are no stalemates here: It’s victory . . . or madness.

Snippet: Anyone could have done it. But could they have done it as fast? Could they have wired the pilot’s brain three days? And set her up to have a switch thrown as dramatically as this?

Hell no.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Tu5tSSIcs]

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Literary Links

It’s National Library Workers Day – Name your favorite librarian as a star!

Show support for your library during National Library Week, April 8-14, by uploading this art to your Facebook page.
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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

Nonfiction Monday

Picture Book of the Day

Earth Day Every Day
by Lisa Bullard (Author) and Xiao Xin (Illustrator)

Booktalk: On Earth Day, we find ways to help the Earth. Trina plants trees with her class. She forms an Earth Day club with her friends. What can you do to make every day Earth Day? Do your part to be a planet protector!

Snippet:
Mom says people should clean up their own messes.
Earthlings made this Earth a mess.
So we Earthlings should fix it.
It’s a job for everyone.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Scheduling Smarts: How to Get Organized, Prioritize, Manage Your Time, and More
by Sandy Donovan (Author)
64 pages

Booktalk: Time management. It’s a challenge for everyone. Between homework, family life, friendships, and after-school activities, most teens feel overscheduled and stressed out. But did you know you can create a ‘time budget’ to help you manage your list of to-dos? Or that identifying your priorities is a great first step toward getting your crazy schedule under control?

Snippet: Ever heard the expression, “Time is money?” People use this phrase to describe how valuable time is. What they’re really saying is, “Treat your time like money, because you’ll never feel as if you have enough of it.” In fact, this saying is true in more ways than one. Time is valuable, and you do need to budget it just like you budget money.
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Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up host is Ana’s NonFiction Blog

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Nonfiction Book Blast 2012

Deborah Hopkinson booktalks Titanic: Voices From the Disaster

on the Nonfiction Book Blast blog today…

Save the date! June 23, 2012 Nonfiction Book Blast 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

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STEM Haiku

In honor of National Poetry Month, we invite you to share an original STEM haiku.

(STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Share your original STEM haiku at the new STEM Friday blog.

pruning the roses
I cut the old canes
away, and new ones grew back
fuller and stronger.
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Read and Write Sports: Readers Theatre and Writing Activities for Grades 3-8

Friday Reads

Picture Book of the Day

These Bees Count!
by Alison Formento (Author) and Sarah Snow (Illustrator)

Booktalk: As the children in Mr. Tate’s class listen, they use science and math to learn how bees work to produce honey and make food and flowers grow.

Snippet:
One by one, we zip up high,
buzzing through
the bright blue sky.
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Poetry Friday

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by Read, Write, Howl

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Chapter Book of the Day

Saving Animals from Oil Spills (Rescuing Animals from Disasters)
by Stephen Person (Author)
32 pages

Booktalk: When disaster strikes, people aren’t the only ones in danger. On April 20, 2010, an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded. See how the animals were affected…

Snippet: As much as two and a half million gallons (9.4 million liters) of oil flowed from the broken pipe into the Gulf of Mexico every day. Scientists knew that the Gulf’s wildlife was in serious danger.
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STEM Haiku

Night Sky
Venus, Jupiter
and Mars, I see you at dusk
shining on the moon.
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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STEM Friday

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Come visit the new STEM Friday blog – and add YOUR link!

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Nonfiction Monday on April 9, 2012

Nonfiction Monday is coming!

The Nonfiction Monday Round-up on April 9, 2012

is at Ana’s NonFiction Blog.

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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Young Readers

Picture Book of the Day

Happy Easter, Mouse!
By Laura Numeroff (Author) and Felicia Bond (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Help Mouse find out who is leaving Easter eggs all over the house!

Snippet:
When he wakes up on Easter
morning, he finds a yellow egg
under his covers.

With each page turn of this board book, readers see Mouse finding eggs in a new color. The color words are printed in that color – a nice touch!
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Comic of the Week

Ferret Fun
by Karen Rostoker-Gruber (Author) and Paul Ratz De Tagyos (Illustrator)
32 pages

Booktalk: Fudge and Einstein are ferrets. Marvel is a cat. Two ferrets plus one cat equal trouble.

Snippet:
FUDGE: We’ve got to do something or we’re ferret fritters fur-ever!
EINSTEIN: What can we do?

FUDGE: We could ignore her.
EINSTEIN: She’ll bug us more.

FUDGE: We could run away.
EINSTEIN: Then who would feed us raisins?

FUDGE: It’s no use. We’re doomed.
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STEM Haiku

The sirens went off three times Tuesday afternoon, but the 13(!) tornadoes didn’t pass directly over our house, thank goodness!

If you didn’t see the tractor trailers lifted up by the tornado, watch this video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stX1Avy4qHg]
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STEM Friday is coming!

STEM Friday is coming! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

If you blog about science or math books tomorrow, come share your link or a STEM haiku of your own!

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Literary Link

My April Quick Tips column: Hot Topics: STEM Poetry is at Booklist Online.

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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

Great Books

Picture Book of the Day

C. R. Mudgeon
by Leslie Muir (Author) and Julian Hector (Illustrator)

Booktalk: C.R. Mudgeon, a sensible hedgehog, likes knowing just what to expect. Always. No surprises, no excitement. So when a noisy new neighbor, Paprika the squirrel, arrives, C.R. Mudgeon is even less cheerful than normal.

Snippet:
At suppertime C.R. Mudgeon smelled something strange.
Peppery.
Tickly.
He sneezed.
Paprika was cooking. The air was thick with her spices.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ2xgF1RmLc]
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Chapter Book of the Day

The Glass Collector
by Anna Perera (Author)
352 pages

Booktalk: Fifteen-year-old Aaron lives amongst the rubbish piles in the slums of Cairo. His job? To collect broken glass. His life? Wasted. His hope? To find a future he can believe in.

Snippet: Aaron walks slowly and painfully, trying hard to take the weight off his left knee, which is throbbing badly after a fall this morning with a pony and cart. The toe he jabbed and the elbow he bashed when he landed on the hot, potholed road hurt almost as badly and, for one awful moment, he thinks he’ll just sink down on the pavement and give up.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrA4weYw49g]
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STEM Haiku

(STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Write a haiku about STEM for National Poetry Month and share it.

Binary Words
Electricity
on and off. Words are ones and
zeroes. Talk is math.
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Literary Links

Ready to write your children’s book? Apr 4-May 23 (online) writing workshops begin next TODAY!

Education Week: New Literacy Standards Could Challenge Even Passionate Readers
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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)

STEM Haiku

STEM Haiku

In honor of National Poetry Month, we invite you to share an original STEM haiku.

(STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Share your original STEM haiku at the new STEM Friday blog.

Humming
you never rest
computer, you’re always hum,
hum, humming a tune
© 2012 Anastasia Suen
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Picture Book of the Day

Senorita Gordita
by Helen Ketteman (Author) and Will Terry (Illustrator)

Booktalk: In this Tex-Mex retelling of The Little Gingerbread Man, Senorita Gordita –a little corn cake– escapes from the frying pan and leads a merry chase. (Try the recipe for gorditas in the back!)

Snippet: And with a flip, and a skip, and a zip-zoom-zip, off she ran. Lagarto skittered after her.
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Chapter Book of the Day

Floors
by Patrick Carman
272 pages

Booktalk: Ten-year-old Leo Fillmore should know everything there is to know about the Whippet Hotel–he is the janitor’s son after all. But a whole lot of mystery gets thrown his way when four cryptic boxes are left to him…boxes that lead him to hidden floors, strange puzzles, and an unexpected friend or two.

Snippet: Leo sat up in bed and thought of his mother’s voice; then he thought of ducks and breakfast. After that, he remembered the one thing he’d hoped to forget in his sleep: Merganzer D. Whippet, the owner and creator of the Whippet Hotel, was gone.

BONUS! See the video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI-YxT1_O3o]

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Literary Links

Ready to write your children’s book? Apr 4-May 23 (online) writing workshops begin next week!

Did your child have 1000 hours of one-on-one reading by first grade? (via Momania: A Blog for Busy Moms)
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My NEW chapter book is Just So, Brianna (All-Star Cheerleaders)